As technology gets more and more advanced, vehicle operators and owners are desiring more information at the central office. Specifically, some companies provide Route Optimization Software, with which company owners attempt to maximize the efficiency of their fleets by planning routes for each vehicle to be as efficient as possible, such as in an effort to potentially limit the number of vehicles or amount of fuel used by the company and/or for other purposes.
Some software products make it possible for the company to monitor events like GPS location of a chassis or when a chassis switches gears; these software products use the J1939 protocol which is provided by United States chassis manufacturers. Other companies track actual and preventable maintenance activities of the chassis using data from the J1939 system.
One company, Geotab, sells a module which interfaces with the OBD-II diagnostic connector, to receive J1939 data on that communication line, and sends that data wirelessly across the internet to a processor, where it is accessible to the company in a usable form. In using that technology, another company has installed a set of sensors mounted on the body of a refuse vehicle; these sensors typically take eight to ten hours to mount. These body sensors then provide a separate communications system, such as each sensor directly wired to an Input/Output Expandus (IOX) using serial or CAN protocols, for directing information from the body through communication through the Geotab device.
While this is an advance over just having chassis information, the components of the body do not communicate on J1939 protocol. Furthermore, they do not receive information from the chassis J1939 communication system, they only send information through another protocol on a dedicated set of wires for each sensor and device to the Geotab transmitter.
Companies such as Geotab, Inc. provide a geo-connect device (a/k/a transmitter) which plugs into the OBD-II interface which not only sends the data from the chassis communication system which is most likely a J1939 communication protocol, it also separately provides GPS information through the Geotab device itself to the cloud to a remote location, such as the refuse company.
The installation of all the sensors on the body together with the communication wiring of each of those sensors to the Geotab unit which are each separately run and connected to the IOX port has been found to be cumbersome for the applicant. The applicant has discovered that the typical install time of the sensors and the separate wiring runs to the OBD-II connector typically takes on the order of about eight to ten hours for some of its models.
A need exists to improve the efficiency of providing information for use by various services as could be obtained from at least the refuse vehicle body.